Sleep schedule for productivity

August 1, 2018
Linda
339 comments

Quick quiz: Are you an early riser?
Do you have a hard time getting out of bed?
Is it hard to keep a regular sleep schedule?
Well, it affects your productivity, according to an article published in FastCompany.

Sleep expert Michale Breus says there are four types of sleepers (and thus optimal schedules for productivity). The Dolphin has irregular sleep patterns and often considers herself an insomniac. The Lion is the Type A personality who gets up before everyone else. The Bear has a pretty typical pattern, getting up at the same time every day and working straight through ’til five. Wolves hit the snooze button and dislike mornings intensely, waking up to productivity in the afternoon and evening.

Take a look and let me know which one you feel fits you best. Honestly, none of them fit me very well except perhaps the Wolf but I am SO irregular with my sleep schedule that it’s a toss up with the Dolphin.

I guess I do have a schedule – I just don’t stick to it all the time. There are the all-nighters when I go to bed at 6 am. There are the “I can’t stay awake another minute” days when I take a late afternoon nap and then want to work late.

But more and more I realize I like to get up early when the world is quiet and dark and no one talks to me or has something I need to do. That time is mine. And, shockingly, I have also realized that in order to get up early, I need to GO TO BED EARLY! I know, I know. It’s elementary. But I like to burn the candle at both ends. Problem is, it doesn’t burn well that way and eventually meets in the middle and burns out. Oops.

So, while I don’t do it all the time, I am starting to notice the clock a little sooner. I am playing with relaxing using those coloring books that are mindless yet absorbing (I like playing with color). I even took the gel topper off my bed because it made me hot in the middle of the night.

I’m getting it, this sleep thing. Especially when I learned that lack of sleep or irregular sleep patterns can cause weight gain. Just what I don’t need. Ok…what’s your sleep story today? Share it with me and the rest of the ADDiva crowd.

One Comment

Elizabeth

24 August 2018

My sleep story is a study in frustration. I used to work in the specialty mattress industry and part of our training was on sleep hygiene. We had seminars and read Dr. Michael Breus’s book. Mine sleep hygiene is on point. My ADHD brain doesn’t care. I could be literally trembling with exhaustion as I lie there waiting for sleep to happen. I’ll be almost on the cusp, teetering on the edge about to plunge into unconsciousness.

And then something will happen, the dog will adjust slightly and jingle his collar, the house will make a settling pop, the fan will cause the pull chain to lightly clink against the globe, it doesn’t matter how soft or subtle – the sound is like a gunshot heralding the start of the racing of my heart and adrenaline. Or nothing will happen, but still my body will react. I startle back awake and the cycle continues.

It wasn’t always this bad – I was just a “night” person. It’s okay, I can work swing or graveyard shifts and sleep during the day. No problem. But now I have kids – they have to get up for school. I have a “real” job that starts at 7:30 a.m. I don’t have the luxury of sleeping till noon. I have to function in the adult world of neurotypical people.

So for me, it’s a monster dose of rX Ambien every night with a 500mg Magnesium supplement chaser. Now I just have to force myself to crawl out of the hyperfocus rabbit hole of whatever evening activity I’m engaged in to get upstairs and take my meds at a reasonable hour. It’s a work in progress…